Kearny Connection

Newark/Hoboken Division approaches

Legend

Northeast Corridor
to Boston
&
LIRR Main Line
to Greenport

Sunnyside Yard

East River Tunnels under East River

New York Penn Station

North River Tunnels under Hudson River

NY

NJ

Hoboken Terminal

Hoboken Yard

Bergen Tunnels under Bergen Hill

Secaucus Junction│

MAIN BCL PVL

Boonton Line to Hackettstown

Portal Bridge│Lower Hack Lift

over Hackensack River

Kearny

Connection

│

Sawtooth

│

│

Newark Drawbridge│Dock Bridge

over Passaic River

Newark Broad Street

Newark Penn

GLAD MOBO M&E

Hunter Connection

CNJ to Communipaw Terminal

Elizabeth

(NJT)

Elizabeth

(CNJ)

RVL to High Bridge│Aldene Connection

Elizabeth River

Rahway River Bridge

UNION interlocking│NJCL to Bay Head

Northeast Corridor & NEC

to Trenton

Newark Division					Hoboken Division
(12 kV 25 Hz AC)					(25 kV 60 Hz AC)

40°44′39″N 74°07′27″W / 40.7441°N 74.1242°W / 40.7441; -74.1242 (Kearny Connection)The Kearny Connection is a railroad junction in Kearny, New Jersey that allows passenger trains from New Jersey Transit's Morris and Essex Lines to enter/leave Amtrak's Northeast Corridor (NEC) and travel to and from New York Penn Station.^[1]^[2]^[3] The junction, which opened in 1996 and utilizes Swift Interlocking, is nearby the Sawtooth Bridges.

Location and design

The Kearny Connection is located west of Secaucus Junction and lies immediately north of the Waterfront Connection which serves to connect Hoboken Division with the NEC. Two tracks, one in each direction, carry trains from the former DL&W main line, which passes under the NEC, onto the NEC.^[4]^[5] The new junction on the NEC is designated "Swift Interlocking" and is seven miles west of New York.^[6]

There is a difference in voltage/frequency between the Northeast Corridor and the Morris and Essex Lines so only electric locomotives and EMUs that can switch between the two electrical systems are able to travel through the junction.

Predecessors

There is precedent for trains from the Morris and Essex lines to route through a connection to a PRR-associated railroad and use its terminal for better access to New York City. The Morris and Essex Railroad, from the time of its arrival in Newark in 1836 until it established its own depot in Hoboken in 1855, built a junction with the New Jersey Rail Road (the Pennsylvania Railroad's predecessor) in Newark, to get to the NJRR's Paulus Hook terminal in Jersey City and its ferries to Manhattan, although this was to the south of Hoboken rather than to the north. To be precise, the junction was with the NJRR's Market Street branch, which joined with the NJRR main line in Newark to cross the Passaic on the Center Street Bridge, then through the Bergen Hill Cut to its Paulus Hook terminal in Jersey City. Nearly all of this has since been removed; the exceptions are tracks for PATH and the P&H through the Bergen Hill Cut, and a small portion of the NJRR mainline east of the former Center Street Bridge (now called the Center Street Branch), but that is now only connected to the M&E albeit further east in Kearny. ^[7]^[8]^[9]

Impact

With the opening of service on June 10, 1996, travel time to Midtown, Manhattan was reduced by 20 minutes, eliminating the need for riders to first travel to Hoboken Terminal and transfer to PATH trains for transport under the Hudson River.^[10] New Jersey Transit dubbed the new service Midtown Direct. By the 2000s, of 138 inbound and 150 outbound daily weekday trains on the three Morris and Essex Lines, 73 inbound and 71 outbound trains (about 50%) use the Kearny Connection.^{[citation needed]}

The project's construction took three years, and $70 million to complete. The reduced commute times and the "one-seat" commute provided by the Kearny Connection increased ridership on the Morris and Essex Lines and increased residential property prices along the line. In 2010, it was estimated that the state of New Jersey collected hundreds of millions of dollars annually in additional property tax revenue due to the increased property prices along the Morris and Essex Lines.^[11]

The Kearny Connection's popularity and success led to other transportation improvements such as the opening of the Secaucus Junction station seven years later. Additional attempts to create "one-seat" commutes to Midtown for riders from the Raritan Valley Line and the Montclair-Boonton Line using dual-mode Bombardier ALP-45DP locomotives have been stalled due to rush-hour capacity issues at Penn Station in New York. A proposal for "one-seat" commutes to Penn Station for Pascack Valley Line, Main Line and Bergen County Line riders via a loop at the Secaucus Junction station is part of the Gateway Project plan but faces criticism due to the existing overcrowding at Penn Station.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ Miller, Luther S. "For NJT, $444 million - New Jersey Transit - includes article on Shirley DeLibero, executive director of NJT" Archived July 17, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Railway Age, October 1991. Accessed August 11, 2007. "The Kearny Connection, in many ways the keystone of the master plan, will link the Gladstone Branch and Morristown rail lines with the Northeast Corridor line to provide direct access to Manhattan at a saving of at least 15 minutes in travel time. Riders on these lines must now journey to Hoboken and transfer to PATH or a ferry to reach Manhattan."
^ Hanley, Robert (May 1, 1991). "New Jersey to Add Trains to Midtown". New York Times. Retrieved February 16, 2011.
^ "Kearny Connection". www.betconsultantsinc.com. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
^ Chen, David W. (December 8, 1996). "All Aboard for New York, if There's Parking Near the Train". New York Times. Retrieved February 16, 2011.
^ Kannapell, Andrea (November 22, 1998). "Growing Pains; The Midtown Direct Line, a Victim of Its Own Success, Leaves Riders Grumbling About the Rush-Hour Madness". The New York Times.
^ "FY 2010 High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Grant Program - Service Development Programs" (PDF). njtransit.com. New Jersey Transit. August 6, 2010. p. 19. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
^ Baxter, Raymond J.; Adams, Arthur G. (1999). Railroad Ferries of the Hudson: And Stories of a Deckhand. Fordham University Press. p. 64. ISBN 978-0823219544.
^ "The Morris and Essex" (PDF), The New York Times, June 6, 1854, retrieved August 5, 2012
^ "Fatal Railroad Accident" (PDF), The New York Times, December 3, 1855, retrieved August 5, 2012
^ Perez-pena, Richard (May 28, 1996). "Kearny Link Is Finished, Reducing Trip by Rail". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
^ Homeowners Will Reap $18B in Benefits from ARC, TRI-STATE TRANSPORTATION CAMPAIGN JULY 29, 2010, http://blog.tstc.org/2010/07/29/homeowners-will-reap-18b-in-benefits-from-arc/

[1] Miller, Luther S. "For NJT, $444 million - New Jersey Transit - includes article on Shirley DeLibero, executive director of NJT" Archived July 17, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Railway Age, October 1991. Accessed August 11, 2007. "The Kearny Connection, in many ways the keystone of the master plan, will link the Gladstone Branch and Morristown rail lines with the Northeast Corridor line to provide direct access to Manhattan at a saving of at least 15 minutes in travel time. Riders on these lines must now journey to Hoboken and transfer to PATH or a ferry to reach Manhattan."

[2] Hanley, Robert (May 1, 1991). "New Jersey to Add Trains to Midtown". New York Times. Retrieved February 16, 2011.

[3] "Kearny Connection". www.betconsultantsinc.com. Retrieved June 22, 2021.

[4] Chen, David W. (December 8, 1996). "All Aboard for New York, if There's Parking Near the Train". New York Times. Retrieved February 16, 2011.

[5] Kannapell, Andrea (November 22, 1998). "Growing Pains; The Midtown Direct Line, a Victim of Its Own Success, Leaves Riders Grumbling About the Rush-Hour Madness". The New York Times.

[6] "FY 2010 High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Grant Program - Service Development Programs" (PDF). njtransit.com. New Jersey Transit. August 6, 2010. p. 19. Retrieved May 9, 2016.

[7] Baxter, Raymond J.; Adams, Arthur G. (1999). Railroad Ferries of the Hudson: And Stories of a Deckhand. Fordham University Press. p. 64. ISBN 978-0823219544.

[8] "The Morris and Essex" (PDF), The New York Times, June 6, 1854, retrieved August 5, 2012

[9] "Fatal Railroad Accident" (PDF), The New York Times, December 3, 1855, retrieved August 5, 2012

[10] Perez-pena, Richard (May 28, 1996). "Kearny Link Is Finished, Reducing Trip by Rail". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 9, 2016.

[11] Homeowners Will Reap $18B in Benefits from ARC, TRI-STATE TRANSPORTATION CAMPAIGN JULY 29, 2010, http://blog.tstc.org/2010/07/29/homeowners-will-reap-18b-in-benefits-from-arc/

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v t e NJ Transit Rail Operations
Hoboken Division	Bergen County Line Main Line Meadowlands Rail Line Montclair-Boonton Line Morris & Essex Lines ( Morristown Line and Gladstone Branch) Pascack Valley Line Port Jervis Line
Newark Division	Atlantic City Line North Jersey Coast Line Northeast Corridor Line Princeton Branch Raritan Valley Line
Connections	Aldene Connection Harold Interlocking Lehigh Line Connection Kearny Connection Montclair Connection Port Morris Junction Secaucus Junction Waterfront Connection
Current rolling stock	EMD GP40PH-2 ALP-46 ALP-45DP PL42AC Comet coaches Comet V MultiLevel coaches Arrow multiple units
Bridges and tunnels	Beach Bridge Bergen Tunnels Brielle Draw Connecting Railway Bridge DB Draw Delair Bridge Dock Bridge East River Tunnels HX Draw Lower Hack Lift Lyndhurst Draw Morgan Draw Morrisville–Trenton Railroad Bridge Newark Drawbridge North River Tunnels Oceanport Draw Portal Bridge Rahway River Bridge Raritan Bay Drawbridge Raritan River Bridge Roseville Tunnel Shark River Draw Upper Hack Lift WR Draw
Stations and yards	List of stations Historic stations County Yard Morrisville Yard Sunnyside Yard
Proposed lines	Lackawanna Cut-Off Monmouth Ocean Middlesex Line West Trenton Line
Other topics	Access to the Region's Core Atlantic City Express Service Glassboro–Camden Line Gateway Program Mid-Line Loop Northern Branch Passaic–Bergen–Hudson Transit Sawtooth Bridges Train to the Game Former stations Proposed stations